Watch this if...you enjoy murder-mystery films with some gore and teenage drama mixed in.Acting/Casting: 5.5* - The acting is solid in some of the cast (Browder, Duke) and questionable and bad in some of the others (Edwards), which results in an average score to me. I've seen much worse in this genre and in this case it doesn't take away from the movie at all.Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 6* - I will admit that the movie was confusing at times, but it had a pretty nice pace to it. It keeps the viewer engaged and the lighting and gore is done fairly well. A pretty good job done by Matthew Spradlin and his crew.Plot/Characters: 4.5* - A group of students get locked in a library for detention and people begin to die after the group solicit ancient ghosts. This is a murder/mystery type story that isn't extremely well put together and at many points is hard to follow and hard to believe.Entertainment Value: 5.5* - It was a fairly entertaining watch for a slow Sunday afternoon, but I don't think I will be watching the movie again. I also wouldn't tell anyone to go out of their way to see it, but it is an okay film.My Score: 5.5+6+4.5+5.5 = 21.5/4 = 5.375 Email your thoughts to [email protected]

"Bad Kids Go To Hell" is Director Matthew Spradlin's dark, twisted homage to 80's teen movies, as only Americana contemporary film can. Co- written with Barry Wernick, the story follows a group of teens from the complete color wheel of personality mind-f**ked. It is an obvious sinister retelling, or new vision, on Hughes "Breakfast Club" where teens personal, and social turmoil's are exposed and forced into resolution. Only in "Bad Kids Go To Hell" the forced realization comes at the hands of one hell of a twisted, sinister story. The plot follows this group of elitist offspring serving detention for, well-you know- being a teen with too much privilege, without supervision, just trying to deal with school and life sh*t! Cause hey, that sh*t is hard-we all have been there! The film stars Amanda Alch, Chanel Ryan, Marc Donato, Augie Duke, Roger Edwards, Ali Faulkner, Cameron Deane Stewart, Ben Browder and Judd Nelson. The official plot goes like this: Six prep school kids from Crestview Academy, home to the spoiled offspring of society's elite, find themselves stuck in detention on a frightfully dark and stormy Saturday afternoon. During their 8-hour detention, each of the six kids falls victim to a horrible "accident" until only one of them remains. I am not going into detail as to the depth of how or why they fall victim as to not give away any spoilers. Just my review and thoughts on the movie.Everything about "Bad Kids Go To Hell" is almost perfect in it's utilization of nostalgia it tries to capture, with all the tribute images and backdrops that so epically scream "John Hughes". From the library, the character traits of the kids, (only more modern and less wholesome), who make up the cast, right down to the awesome Judd Nelson cameo as Head Master. The flaw (which is minor) is that it seemed to go hardcore in referencing the 80's high school flick but sadly no real dialogue reverb from the movie, what - not one kid could have found a way to declare "I wanna be just like you. I figure all I need, is a lobotomy and some tights". Okay, I know new decade , new social commentary. The film does have some very awesome quotable moments that I loved, my fave "I don't worship the devil, I just promote him". The cast where killer in their role and all had more than enough back story and depth of personality to bring the characters to life. I did want a bit more bravado, overt-expression from a couple of the characters. I thought they where more subdued than they should have been, but still the acting was stellar. Plus a hot cast can hardly ever go wrong. The movie's "spooky" element was a nice premise to keep the plot stimulated, (remember I am not giving any details away here), which seemed to put the kid's paranoia in overdrive, and the ending twist was cool. Although it almost came off as lame, thank god it was the ending, and not revealed earlier or the film would have failed, much like "Cry Wolf". The effects and gore are there but not really allowed to be the focal point of the moment which is kind of a bummer but still it didn't detract from the movie. "Bad Kids Go To Hell" is a fun, dark satire on High School life as well as basic social discourse that we all have to endure. Plus the subtext of how, based on generation gap and over extended lives, adults tend to view life and young people with a very distorted view outside of the reality that teens or young people in general experience (and vice versa). All in all this film is pretty excellent and a great addition for fans of 80's throwbacks or contemporary American movies, although technically it isn't a horror film it does have some pretty thrilling moments in true Draconian fashion. The real meat of the story lies with the way they reveal how each kid got sent into detention. The flashback is totally 90's "here is how…" stylization. Plus for some reason I got an early Rodriquez vibe from the film.

Having read the novels (of the graphic variety), I felt obliged to give the film a try. The trailers are not entirely representative of what the film or the original story was, I will warn you. I will also confess, I know the 8 out of 10 to be generous, but I do it to balance out a few of the more critical reviews. This film is what it is; comedy horror done in a very stylized manner. The acting leaves a bit to be desired. Judd Nelson, I will say, puts in a decent performance for the material he was given - his inclusion being a nod to the original "club" imagined differently.In short, it won't kill you to give this a try if you have the chance. Should make you smile more than once, which is more than I can say for some horror comedy I've seen.

I saw this on opening weekend and found it to be quite entertaining. The acting was above average, and the story reminded me of "Heathers". It was funny, and had some pretty nice eye candy. However, it was not perfect, (very few are), and if I had a major complaint, it would be that the sexy Chanel Ryan was totally underutilized. I thought her character could have, and should have been fleshed out a little more. Hopefully if there is a sequel, she will have a bigger role. Also, the Megan character was killed off too soon. I would have preferred that the the jock character had been killed off sooner. He was not a very strong character. That is really about all I can say, I just want to reiterate that I did however enjoy the film.